We have spent the last 15 years helping companies large and small develop their products for market...

StartUps Workshop

Product Design for Start-Ups – Workshop.

Make the first step towards success. Spend an afternoon with us & gain decades of industry insight on how to kick off your project – Take it from us, a product can only be as good as its brief, why do that alone.

Most start ups and inventors arrive at a daunting cross roads when setting out. If you are new to product development and you are currently asking the following below – our workshop was created for you;

A ) How do I turn my idea into a successful product?

B ) How do I reduce risk while taking a leap into the unknown?

C ) Who is able to guide us to a successful product launch?

Through a process of osmosis with our client base over a decade, we figured out our approach to consulting with clients who wanted to develop new products was a little different. We know the UK has a great wealth of design innovation companies, yet we came to understand that other touch-points along our client’s journey before they got to us, might have been less than optimised for their products future success.

Apparently, some product designers failed to dig deep into the problem statement or to work through any feasibility study of the concept or route to market prior to quoting.

This was a bit of a revelation. Our clients showed us, the established industry view could at times suffer from what we call “Passive Design Thinking”, which only stacked the chips further against our clients’ chances of success.

It was pointed out, Flynn Product Design focused more on how to optimise for success and reduce risk than some of the competition. I’m sure it’s been used somewhere before, but for us, the term “ Active “ vs “Passive” Design fits the bill. It’s our culture to consider a clients return on investment, so that is baked into our process when handling new business, creating the brief and product design specification.

The old way simply put the responsibility on to the inexperienced shoulders of the first time product developer to know what they are doing before they have really started. You will meet “yes men and women” After all the customer is always right – Right? Well Yes and No – If the client is an experienced product developer and had successes in the target market before, then probably, however If like most Start Ups this is new territory, then that’s when our 15 years industry experience and specialist skill set comes into play. Our culture is to question everything. Shake down the thinking, all ideas can be optimised by challenging them, this is how evolution produces the strongest and fittest – survivors – Our approach is to breed prize winners.

In simple terms, the brief and subsequent product design specification ( PDS ) often limits the commercial design opportunity. It could be too narrow, It might be focused solely on the solution you might have in mind. ( A Patent attorney at this stage might have you setting that and your thinking in Stone )It might be as simple as “here is my idea, can you build it?” Taking that forward without walking with you, through the problem statement, to that point of innovation, is to miss the Ice Berg below the surface. Awesome and kudos to you if you have a solution. Definitely we can assess and develop this, however, there are often many alternative design solutions to be discovered.

Is the problem statement fully drilled down? Leaping first to your own solution may miss out on the true opportunity. We created the workshop to consult with you, about the bigger picture as early in your workflow as possible.

Further, to challenge us to solve this in alternate ways (after all, that’s our secret weapon) we can solve things you might have been stuck on, it’s our profession. You might well be reading this completely sold on your own solution to the problem, your “invention”. Moreover, if your first touch point was Patent Attorneys, you might have already applied for the claims of that invention to be Patented. This serves to reinforce your position. Yet simply put, if you give us the problem and we find other, better ways to solve it, then the competition can.

Patent first, right? Patenting first, before working with innovators and creatives could be a costly mistake.

We would prefer our clients own this IP we create for them, rather than the competition. Even if you still go ahead and develop your original ideas, at least you have covered the obvious alternative routes for the competition to snap at your heels.

Finding the right time to Patent is critical, Patent too early and the design has evolved from your application to that which you ultimately take to market. Moreover, you can blow your budget barking up the wrong tree. We have seen it time and again £100,000 on global patents that become obsolete almost after a single Product Design for Start-ups Workshop. The more reputable Attorneys will pass you onto a good product design company who has your best interest at heart. Knowing we can circle back to them downstream.

We wanted to organise and condense this approach and make it available at low cost with no obligation to Start-Ups and Entrepreneurs, So we created the Product Design for Start-ups Workshop which brings a holistic, top-down view of the business case, the design case, even some light business coaching such as looking at your SWOT analysis. All with the knowledge of 15 years developing products for startups.

A product can only be as good as its brief.

We work with you on a one to one basis, you invested in us, we can invest in you, making sure we’re going to quote for a well-considered brief. We need to get immersed in something you might have been thinking about for years. The workshop seeks to make this kind of consultation more accessible to all even on a tight budget. We charge only for either a full or half day workshop, there is no obligation and should you (as 95% of our Workshop attendees’ do) contract us to develop your product we will refund the workshop. Sometimes in about 3% of cases, our workshop process highlighted a lack of feasibility for the project. In our view, that’s also money well spent. Saving our clients potentially thousands on a product which had known flaws.

Don’t underestimate asking the right questions

Let’s work together to ensure your problem statement is drilled down, Let’s shake down your product idea so it can grow into the mighty oak which bends in the wind. That just wont happen unless the correct DNA exists, that DNA is influenced heavily by the earliest thinking in your workflow.

We sleep easy, knowing we offer a level of service second to none, The workshop ultimately informs our quote ensuring we are quoting for a tailor made project that is ‘match fit’.

If we can help you de-risk the venture given what we know, given what we see – it would be unethical not to. At Flynn Product Design we go above and beyond for our clients. Becoming a key part of your team, from concept to market even linking you with investors and distributors in some cases.